Paul Thek in Process

In 1971, Harald Szeemann invited the American sculptor and installation pioneer Paul Thek to contribute to Documenta 5. Szeemann had named one section of the Documenta “Individual Mythologies,” describing a new kind of art structured around a mythology invented by individual artists, rather than by a culture. Thek’s contribution--the now legendary “Pyramid” installation--came to be seen as the supreme example of Individual Mythology, and is one of Thek’s best known works (Documenta 5 is likewise among the most famous of all Documentas to date). Paul Thek in Process stems from an unrealized publication that Thek had hoped to produce for Documenta 5, which would enlarge upon the occasion and the mythology of his “Pyramid.” It comprises a trove of previously unpublished photographs recording the installation at Moderna Museet in 1971–72, all of the surviving correspondence between Thek and the museum, work-related ephemera and press coverage of the work.